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The Zoology of Star Wars

I've explored this angle before in response to other threads but felt it deserved a thread of its own. The Star Wars Universe is rich with unique wildlife (and domestic animals) that have rarely been done justice as toys. Sure, we've received almost all of the beasts of burdon, but there are still the odd litte creatures that enrich playbility, displayability, diorama support, and collectability of the entire line. I have long proposed a boxed set of creatures like the swamp flyer, mynok, scurriers, (EU) womp rat, shaak, Naboo birds, Dagobah snakes/lizards, Naboo fishes (w/clear stands like the interegator droid) and really any others, including the (considerably larger) Opaki. Any thoughts or suggestions along these lines?

"Does the name "Dingo" mean anything to you?" - Jedi Boulton to DingoDad at the October Dallas ComiCon.

I know what you're talking about there Cole. The thing I think we have here is (I'm sure in Hasbro's minds) those odd E1 creature packs that failed. I saw so many of those things on Clearance. I know you are probably looking for more "environment" specific sets like "Tatooine", "Dagobah", "Naboo" & "Space Creatures" (like, Mynocks, Dia Noga, et al.). I have a feeling we will never see these things because Hasbro thinks they have "already tried" that.

That completely blows, but what are you gonna do? I suppose you could hunt for the remaining "Creature Packs" and collect those that exist, but I know it's not the same.

franly, i'm very disappointed that the POTJ sandtrooper didn't come with a scurrier rodent. I hope the second version we've been promised comes with one. If they can make a teeny patrol droid for the cantina diorama sandtrooper, then they can damn well make a small scurrier!
they could make a Shyerba, the Gnu like creature that was outside the Mos Eisley cantina. Pack it with one of the cantina aliens for something a little different.
A proper articulated Dagobah pterodactyl with an all new Yoda or a dagobah damaged R2.
A decent attempt at a Dianoga, with an all new commtech style Luke in stormtrooper disguise.
Naboo creatures -Shaak, Pikobus, Nuna, Mott... Ikopi.

All small enough to be included with a figure. Why wouldn't we want them? If these toys are aimed at kids then they will sell if they are available. It's like a little farmyard or zoo sort of affair, kids love toy animals and the weirder the better. All these animals and creatures are strangely weird but still hold something familiar about them because they are part of the star wars fantasy that is future remembered. Different but familiar. These creatures resemble the creatures we know here on earth but have their own quirks that make them attractive. How can they justify making Salacious Crumb who is tiny, yet not make any of these other creatures? My God - Salacious even gets a repeat release! Madness...

It would be great to see HAsbro do something like that. Every once and a while include one of those smaller creatures with the figures. FOr now I think our only hope with stuff like this is the Deluxe line. I hope Bubo is included with Ephant Man.

JT is correct about the dismal failure of the Battle Bags, but I think that is more due to the presentation than the final product. Hasbro tried to make some kind of "slime treasure hunt" which made it confusing as to the nature of the product confusing, obtaining the figures troublesome, and difficult for retailers to sell because of these mistakes. The presentation should have been more like the zoo animals Jargo mentions.

I agree with Jargo on pack-ins also. It seems hasbro gets it right and wrong at once sometimes with packins (accessories), as with Wuhur (the droid detector was a great choice but the permanant cup-in-hand pose was NOT. Though accessories like the swamp dragon or the scurrier are a good idea, that excludes creatures like the mynok (baring a carded release of the Mynok Hunt characters) and the larger types like the Ikopi. Do you remember pictures of the Obi-Wan/Swamp Skeeto (projected) Beast Assortment set? If they were so keen on a "runnin' through the swamps" Obi-Wan, why not choose the Ikopi instead of fabricating a non-existant creature? What? We never see Obi-Wan and the Ikopi at the same time? We never saw Obi-Wan and the "Swamp Skeeto" either, and it was going to be a toy! And we never saw Qui-Gon hop out of the Bongo and try to harpoon the Opee either!

"Does the name "Dingo" mean anything to you?" - Jedi Boulton to DingoDad at the October Dallas ComiCon.

The battle bags didn't do allot for me. My son liked the slime though.I think it would have gone over better if they made some of them more to scale.My son would have gone crazy over a good size toy of some of those sea monsters[sorry I don't know the names]from Naboo.

I stocked up on Battle Bags (the Naboo ocean ones) after they started to get marked down everywhere so I could have plenty for a personal project. I am going to cast them in groups and individually in that clear casting resin that you can sometimes find at hobby stores. You can get a wide variety of dome and other shaped molds and even colored dyes to mix in with them for translucent colors or dark background color (with the last layer or two of the compound put in the mold. Anyway, I have a POTF2 Yoda cast in a dome of this stuff with blue in the background which is quite cool and resides at our table at every toy show. Many have asked to buy it, but as the sticker on the bottom says, "Magic Good Luck Yoda is Not For Sale". But I thought people might enjoy a Colo Claw Fish or a Laa cast in clear resin, or a grouping of fish, or a Bongo in the foreground and an Opee, tongue outstretched, in the background, all permanantly sealed in a dome of acrylic. Try it, s'fun!

"Does the name "Dingo" mean anything to you?" - Jedi Boulton to DingoDad at the October Dallas ComiCon.